Let the Monkey do it!

I am very excited to announce a new software product created by my friend Orrin Zucker and his esteemed collaborator, the godfather of Adobe After Effects scripting, Dan Ebberts. Dan and Orrin created TypeMonkey, and it’s brilliant. TypeMonkey is a script for After Effects that automates compositions of animated text. This kind of animation is popularly known as kinetic typography.

The easiest way to explain TypeMonkey is to show what it does. The video atop this post was created in Adobe After Effects using a pre-release version of TypeMonkey. For each animated sequence, I created a comp and selected a background color. I used TypeMonkey to select type colors, font, size range and groupings for the text; everything else was done by TypeMonkey. Quickly. I created each animated sequence in the video above in a matter of minutes. I made slight adjustments to the defaults and used some codes shared in the user interface to group words and phrases.TypeMonkey is very easy to use, even for novice After Effects users. TypeMonkey makes quick work of setting up an animated type sequence the length of a comp. Words are created as individual type objects that are manipulated by control layers. Variation can be controlled easily via the script’s simple user interface. The word reveal timing may be adjusted simply by repositioning the word markers on the timing control layer. Individual parameters of the type elements and their animation may be edited once the TypeMonkey sequence is built. There is a random component to the TypeMonkey generator that makes it both surprising and very useful. A designer/animator won’t have to spend a lot of time deciding how to arrange the type, or how to reveal each word, or move the camera– unless they want to. All of those parameters may be adjusted, or not.
Orrin was inspired to create TypeMonkey because he wasn’t a big fan of creating the kinetic type solutions some of his clients wanted. He wondered if a script could be made for After Effects to automate kinetic type builds. Orrin worked with script-master Dan Ebberts on other projects; he shared his idea with Dan. Dan liked the concept, so he and Orrin set to work on the capability of the tool and its code.

The result of their collaboration is TypeMonkey– and it’s available today at aescripts + aeplugins. For a limited time TypeMonkey will be sold at a discount– $49.95 for a one computer license. The discounted price will be available only until August 26. After that, it will be sold for its full retail price– $89.95.

Act now!

The music in the video is Go Cart by Kevin McLeod.
Used under Creative Commons license.

As a graphic designer, I do not sign my work. But when I had created 9 drawings in my new Comics of Comedy series, something clicked. My illustrations, cartoons, comics, have always been more personal than my work done specifically for clients. Client work is for my clients. But Comics of Comedy is an